Skip to content
Fencer Vulns
medium 5.0

CVE-2003-1365 json

The escape_dangerous_chars function in CGI::Lite 2.0 and earlier does not correctly remove special characters including (1) "\" (backslash)…

published 2003-12-31 22 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2003-1355

cvss
5.0
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.9%
EPSS 1.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 79%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The escape_dangerous_chars function in CGI::Lite 2.0 and earlier does not correctly remove special characters including (1) "\" (backslash), (2) "?", (3) "~" (tilde), (4) "^" (carat), (5) newline, or (6) carriage return, which could allow remote attackers to read or write arbitrary files, or execute arbitrary commands, in shell scripts that rely on CGI::Lite to filter such dangerous inputs.

Exploit prediction

1.89% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 79% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • securityfocus.com http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/311414 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • search.cpan.org http://search.cpan.org/~smylers/CGI-Lite-2.02/Lite.pm referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • archives.neohapsis.com http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/vulnwatch/2003-q1/0065.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 5.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-20 Improper Input Validation

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.